Frozen
by Selene Romanov
Summary: My version of what happens on the day of the school shootings. Chapter Two is the second half of the day and what happens. Plz R&R!
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer: Borrowing the characters for my own creative purposes, no $$ is being made.**

**Sumamry: My idea of what happens in the episode that airs on March 1, 2006.**

**Characters: Lucas, Brooke (who I feature as kind of weepy), Peyton, Keith, Dan, Karen and Jimmy.**

**Plz read and review.

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Gunfire rang out, screams shattered the silence that usually reigned in the residential neighborhood. People ran, fear racing through their veins, adrenaline aiding them in their speed to safety.

A streak of quirky blond hair and blue jeans, backpack slung over one shoulder comforting a dark haired girl immersed in full blown chaos mode.

"Lucas, I lost her in there, I don't know what happened to Peyton, she's in there…" Brooke collapsed to the ground.

Dropping his backpack, he told the girl to stay put. Sneaking up to the outskirts of the high school, he saw police officers in full SWAT mode, sweeping the perimeter with big guns.

He saw a familiar shag of blond hair on a girl who was lying motionless on the ground, not ten feet from him. Blood coated her forehead and right leg.

Crawling over to her, he saw it was Peyton, checking her pulse, he pulled her into his arms, checking to make sure she was breathing. Her pulse was weak and her breathing was faltering. Her skin was growing clammy.

"C'mon Peyton don't give up on me, I need you," murmuring to her, he hefted her into his arms, wrapping his denim shirt around her leg to stem the bleeding. He moved swiftly and quietly as not to alert the police.

A dark figure in military garb stopped him, pointing his gun at Lucas. Pulling off his mask, Lucas almost dropped Peyton when he saw it was Jimmy.

"Jimmy, what the hell are you doing here?" he looked at Jimmy's garb and the gun and the manic look in his eyes.

"Punishing all these assholes, who think they can push me around, I've had it," his finger twitched on the trigger.

Lucas focused on Jimmy, consciously aware of Peyton in his arms, "Look put down the gun and we can leave right now." Lucas tried to calm him down.

"No, this is it, the reason for my existence, to bring down all these people," adjusting his glasses, Jimmy looked around, keeping his eyes peeled for cops.

Adjusting Peyton carefully in his arms, Jimmy's eyes dropped to her, seeing the blood darken through the denim Lucas's tightly bound shirt that was covering her wound.

"I wasn't aiming for her, I was aiming for that skank otherwise known as your girlfriend, I'm just sorry I missed," his tone was emotionless, his eyes were dead.

Lucas backed away from him slowly, fear overriding him at this point. His brain was overblown with thoughts of his life ending here and now. Peyton couldn't die, he couldn't die, they were too young and had too much to live for.

"I can't let you go man," Jimmy had his back turned to the hallway which Lucas was thankful for because there was a cop coming decked out in black SWAT garb. He had his gun pointed at Jimmy and was looking straight at Lucas.

Lucas started to move to the right to get out of the way, something was going to happen, something meant to happen, Jimmy had been twisted and didn't care who lived or died.

Lucas didn't want to die yet. Looking at Jimmy, he saw emptiness a valley of darkness that Jimmy would never emerge from. Whispering goodbye, he watched as the police officer pulled the trigger, hitting Jimmy in the shoulder.

Jimmy yelled, turned and fired at the officer with his other arm, before falling to the ground. The last thing, Lucas saw in his eyes, was sheer hatred.

"How could you?" he groaned before falling unconscious.

Luke turned and moved to the exit swiftly for fear of Peyton dying of blood loss. She'd already lost a lot of blood.

Brooke was still frozen on the pavement in fear, knees hunched up, arms wrapped around them. Lucas rushed past her with Peyton in his arms, she starting shaking jerkily.

"Peyton, don't you dare give on me now, I need you," Lucas whispered fiercely to her. "I can't survive in a world without you."

Shouting for help, a paramedic scrambled over to him, seeing Peyton he told Lucas to follow him. Jogging as fast as he could, they stopped at an ambulance, the other paramedic helped Lucas lower Peyton to a stretcher. One paramedic ran around to the driver's side. "She has to go to the hospital now, she's lost a lot of blood."

The other paramedic asked Lucas if he was coming. Lucas froze, looking from Peyton's motionless figure to Brooke's frozen figure collapsed on the pavement.

"I'm coming with you," jumping up into the ambulance, he moved down the bench so he could hold her hand.

"Just talk to her," the paramedic yelled at him, slamming the back door shut and yelling at his partner to get going.

Lucas looked down at her, her eyelids were flickering rapidly, the paramedic put an oxygen mask on her face. He was examining her leg.

Lucas prayed for a miracle to happen, he couldn't lose Peyton, she'd already lost so much in her life, losing her own life would be the final straw for her and for him.

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Karen poured a cup of coffee for a patron at the cafe, turning the radio up for a sudden news bulletin. Time seemed to freeze as she heard that gunshots were being fired at Tree Hill High. All those horror stories of high school shootings came true in a second for her.

Freezing in place, she dropped the coffeepot, watching detached as it shattered on the ground. A high pitched scream flew out of her mouth and she collapsed to the ground. Her brain shut down and she went into panic mode for one solid moment, then like a resurge of power.

She stood up quickly, turning off the radio and yelling that the café was closed. Dropping her apron on the ground, she grabbed her keys and ran to her car.

Arriving at the school, chaos was evident, people were milling everywhere behind the yellow police lines. Karen saw Brooke sitting on the ground, her hands wrapped around a very familiar backpack.

Pulling Brooke to her feet, the younger girl stared up at Karen with a blank expression on her face. "Where's Lucas?" Karen demanded.

"I don't know, he dropped his bag and went to get Peyton, I think she was shot, he was aiming for me, I think and he hit--." Brooke started crying, wrapping her arms around Karen.

"Well did you see them come out?" Karen pulled back, looking at her.

"I think so, Lucas came out, carrying what I think was Peyton and ran off to find an ambulance," Karen hugged her relieved that her son lived and she didn't hear Brooke mumble, "but he left me behind."

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Lucas ran alongside the stretcher as they wheeled Peyton into Emergency Room 2, "Is she gonna die?"

"Don't push me?" the paramedic said.

Doctors and nurses burst into the room, pushing Lucas out, the last thing he saw was Peyton being hooked up to various machines.

Closing his eyes, he prayed. Opening his eyes a moment later, he pulled out his cell phone and called Larry, Peyton's dad had to know his daughter had been shot and was in the hospital.

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Dan ran up to where Karen was standing, she pulled back from Brooke to look at him, "Have you seen Nathan or Lucas?" he asked her, his eyes wide with shock.

"Dan shouldn't you be---" she was pulled into his arms.

Being in his arms again was strange, so many emotions were fighting for dominance in her body and all she could do was stand there and let Dan hug her.

"Lucas is at the hospital with Peyton, she was shot, I haven't seen Nathan or Haley," turning to Brooke, she asked the girl if she'd seen Nathan or Haley.

"Yeah they went back to our place to get themselves together, they were really scared," Brooke started to cry again.

A body was rolled past them on a stretcher in a body bag, the zipper done up. Karen stopped them and asked who it was, what poor unfortunate student had died.

The paramedic shrugged sadly and pulled the zipper down, revealing that it wasn't a student but a grown man, Keith Scott.

Karen looked at his body, silent and motionless, dead. She froze and then started to shriek hysterically. Brooke came out of her own world of misery to see Karen reacting to Keith's dead body.

Dan embraced her, tears running down his face. "My big brother," he groaned painfully, his eyes shadowed by tears.

Karen clutched his arms spasmodically, her engagement ring catching the sunlight mockingly.

Keith's eyes were shut, his face frozen in death.


	2. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: No $$$ is being made, strictly borrowing the characters.**

**The second half that you asked for, should explain things better. I didn't really specify how Keith was killed, because there's too many ideas, but basically at some point, Jimmy shot him and it was a fatal shot. Again, I've Leytoned my story, more than Brucased it, i know this is NOT anything that would ever happen, but it's my version, so if you don't like it, too bad. Otherwise enjoy.

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Lucas was pacing at the hospital, eyes warily watching the doors of the Emergency room. It was killing him, this waiting for confirmation that Peyton would be okay. She'd only been shot in the leg and yet he'd heard of stranger things happening where someone died from minor injuries. He could barely remember what had happened before, just words coming out of his mouth, from where he didn't know. The desperation of the situation just seemed to grab him and choke him.

An ambulance pulled up to the entrance of the Emergency room outside, sirens wailing. Silence, then doors swooshed open and a stretcher was pushed through, the zipper on the body bag was undone. Lucas frozen when he saw it was Keith, his face pale as paste, eyes closed, seemingly in an eternal sleep.

Something flashed in Lucas's memory as he watched Keith be wheeled down the hallway away from him. He froze, reality setting in, Keith was dead and it was all Jimmy's fault, Jimmy who had been shot in the shoulder by a cop and hadn't died. Lucas's mind flashed with images of him running back into the school, Keith had been in Whitey's office to see him about something, but Whitey was in the teacher's lounge. Nathan had shown up right before gun shots could be heard ringing out. Keith told the two boys to stay put until the coast was clear and make a break for it.

The last time Lucas saw Keith, he was telling them to be careful, turned the corner and was out of sight. Now he was dead, most likely killed by Jimmy. Lucas didn't know for sure.

A doctor came out of the Emergency room and told him that Peyton would be okay, she'd be out of commission for a couple of weeks while her knee healed, but she'd be okay eventually. Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. Pulling out his cell phone, he went outside to call Peyton's dad and tell him the good news.

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Karen stood awkwardly with Dan's arms around her as he cried on her shoulder. Never in a million years did she see this happening. Keith dead and Dan crying on her shoulder, what had the world come to? Faintly, she pushed him away and looked up at him. "We have to get to the hospital and check on Lucas and see how Peyton is doing." 

Dan nodded, his eyes dark with pain as he looked down at her. He couldn't fathom the fact that his brother was dead, out of all the evils in the world, after all the horrible things he was still alive. How could such a thing be right, take a good man like Keith and leave him behind? In some part of Dan's mind, he could almost understand from a philosophical point, that Keith had finally gotten the woman he loved and they were going to get married but then death came and took him. It was harsh, but perhaps that was the way life worked. Keith had finally gotten the woman he'd always loved and had finally gotten Dan to let go of his past and all the bitterness buried inside of him.

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Haley and Nathan walked into the hospital, arms around each other, still on edge and nerves shot. Haley saw Lucas standing in the hallway looking so lonely. Running up to him, she hugged him and asked him where Brooke was. Something clicked in his head, quickly hugging Haley, he ran off to call Brooke to make sure she was okay. After all, he'd left so quickly, he'd forgotten about her, but how? 

Brooke stood leaning on the flagpole watching the craziness unfold around her, Jimmy was being handcuffed and read his rights by the Police Chief. He was taken to an ambulance and his shoulder was looked at. Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, pulling it out, she saw Lucas was calling.

"Hey"

"Hey how's it going over there?" he asked.

"Crazy, Jimmy's being arrested and his shoulder is being looked at. Where are you?"

"At the hospital with Peyton, she's going to be okay, but Keith's dead." The flatness of his tone brought tears to her eyes.

"I know."

"How do you know?" he asked, almost accusatorily.

"I was with your mom and dad when the paramedics rolled him out of the school on a stretcher in a body bag, it was horrible," she recanted to him. Her mind still stuck on the vivid details that would be forever etched in her memory.

"My dad, that monster isn't my father," Lucas bit out angrily.

"Well he's the only dad you got now," Brooke replied sarcastically.

"Look, let's not talk about this right now, are you coming to visit Peyton?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in about half an hour," Brooke said, hanging up her phone.

Lucas looked at his phone,turning it onto vibrate, he walked back inside.

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Karen parked her car, Dan in the passenger seat, strangely out of the two of them, he seemed more emotional. Karen had this strange sense of calm, almost like she didn't accept Keith's death. Her emotions were roiling around beneath the surface, but for now, she would maintain a tight lid on them. As they walked into the hospital, Dan stopped his eyes wide with dawning horror. "My parents, I have to call them." 

"C'mon Dan, we can call them afterwards, first we have to go identify his body and get everything out of the way so we can start planning…" she trailed off, reality smashing into her harshly.

"How can I be talking about him like this, I'm a horrible person, he's just been killed and the only thing I'm worried about is planning his funeral." Karen leaned back and almost fell over, Dan grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her comfortingly.

"It's okay, I'm here for anything you need, we'll get through this together," holding her chin in the palm of his hand, he looked into her eyes, mascara smudged her eyelashes.

"Thank you," her reply was muffled against his jacket as she accepted his comfort.

Lucas saw a pair of dark heads down the hall that looked familiar, he went to see if it was his mom, when the doctor came out to talk to him.

"We're moving Miss Sawyer to a private room, we've talked to her father and all her medical expenses have been taken care of, she'll be in room 301." Thanking him, Lucas moved down the hall to where he saw Dan hugging his mother and whispering in her ear.

"What the hell is going on here? Keith just died and already he's moved in on you, what the hell is wrong with you Mom?" Lucas yelled, cheeks red with anger, glaring daggers at his father.

Pulling out of Dan's arms, Karen turned to face her son. "Dan and I just saw Keith's body rolled out of the school, we saw him dead, don't you think we need each other to help get through this ordeal."

"Well you don't have to be in his arms, letting him touch you," anger laced his tone as he yelled at his parents.

"Don't take that tone with me, Lucas Eugene Scott, when you're done acting like a child, then I'll talk to you, until then, stay out of our way, we have things to do," grabbing Dan's arm, she walked over to the counter, where they could start going through the process of having Keith let go, so they could plan the funeral.

Speechless, Lucas watched them walk away, his eyes narrowed as he saw their linked hands. If his dad thought he could get his mom, he had something else coming.

Brooke rushed into the hospital, seeing Lucas, she threw herself into his arms, only to be rebuffed when he didn't embrace her. His eyes were like steel aquamarine bullets, cold as they watched something behind her. Brooke turned and saw Karen and Dan together, looking back at Lucas, she could tell he didn't like that, his hands clenched and unclenched.

Nathan and Haley walked around the corner, arms around each other, heads together as they talked. They stopped upon seeing Brooke in Lucas's arms trying to get a response from him, their gaze followed Lucas's to see Dan and Karen standing together at the counter, hands linked. Nathan's mouth fell open, Haley's brain started processing possible explanations, they both walked over to Lucas and Peyton.

Lucas pulled back from Brooke, eyeing his parents coldly, "Follow me." Nathan and Haley looked at each other then at Brooke. Following Lucas, they stopped at Room 301. Peyton lay in bed, clad in a white nightgown courtesy of the hospital. Her eyes opened slightly as she looked and saw Brooke, Lucas, Nathan and Haley.

"Hey P. Sawyer, how are you?" Brooke made her way over to the bed, cautiously.

"Not so hot, won't be able to do any cheerleading for awhile," she attempted to crack a joke, but Brooke's tears started flooding down her face. "I was so scared when I ran outside and you weren't there."

"I know me too, but luckily Lucas saved me," Peyton smiled at him as he moved to the other side of her bed to stand next to her, his eyes avidly devouring her liveliness, even now as she breathed, Keith was dead, because of Jimmy.

Her smile was shakily returned, "Why all the glum faces? I'm going to be okay."

"Someone else didn't make it," Lucas's harsh voice grated her nerves.

"Who?" looking around, she saw her four main friends.

"Keith." Lucas said shakily, his legs trembled from shock.

Peyton pulled him down to her bed and hugged him, "Lucas." Her one word seemed to trigger his emotional eruption, his shoulders shook as he buried his head in the crook of her neck. Deep down somewhere inside of him, he could relate more to Peyton because she had more loss in her life than anyone else in the room with him currently.

"It hurts but it will get better, remember him as he was and how great he was." Her soft words tore into him.

"He was going to adopt me and be my dad and now he's dead," Lucas groaned harshly, anguish evident in his tone.

Nathan and Haley looked a bit shocked by Lucas's emotional outburst and felt like they were witnessing something way too personal. Both said they'd be around the hospital, Haley wanted to go and see how Karen was doing.

Brooke stood there awkwardly almost feeling like a voyeur, Lucas and Peyton now had something in common that she didn't, so inside it hurt to watch them bond over something so personal and intimate.

Peyton patted his back comfortingly and told him how she was dealing with Ellie's death, Lucas smiled at her, hoping her words of wisdom would help him through this dark time. Both turned to Brooke and help their arms out for a group hug. "The more hugs, the better off we'll be."

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Karen walked out the hospital doors feeling thatshe'd aged ten years in the past 12 hours. It was getting dark now, having spent the whole day at the hospital, seeing Peyton, dealing with the logistics of having Keith declared dead so they could prepare for his funeral. Dan had been a rock through the whole day, being there, helping her, holding her. She had been there for him when he'd had to call Royal and May. He broke down on the phone and she could hear his mother crying and the silence of his father spoke volumes, they would be coming down the next day to stay and help Karen and Dan with the funeral arrangements. 

In all the chaos, Karen had asked Dan if Deb was coming back for the funeral, a look of sadness entered his eyes and he said he didn't know. Time would heal the wounds, but the sting would always be there.

This would a day that forever changed Tree Hill, death and horror had marked the school, it was tainted, but hopefully, the strength of the people would enable them to move on and over the difficult times ahead.


End file.
